It Was Only Just a Dream
by hufweite
Summary: ... or so they say, but dreams are more real than some will ever know. Takes place on Earth, present day.
1. Chapter 1: The Dream

Chapter 1: the dream

Emma gripped the ikran's scaly chest with her bare feet and held on tightly as it plummeted straight down. Her hair streamed out behind her as the rainforest below loomed closer and closer. The wind blew wildly in Emma's face, threatening to rip her off of the back of the four-winged dragon thing that was the ikran.

She wanted to pull out of the dive now, and the ikran responded to her unspoken command. It swooped upward, flapping it's wings powerfully. Emma whooped at the top of her lungs. She was ALIVE!

She was the girl. She was the ikran. She had flapping wings and clinging arms, a mouth and a beak. She felt the ikran's body below her and the girl's weight on her back. She danced the ancient dance of joy across the alien sky. Emma's voice sang out in a wordless cry of exhilaration, her voice blending with a primal roar from the ikran. As they splashed through one of the many crystal-clear waterfalls cascading from the floating mountains, she closed her eyes.

Emma opened her eyes.

Then she opened her EYES.


	2. Chapter 2: The Discovery

Disclaimer: I don't own Wikipedia or Imax. The lucid dreaming quote is from the page on Wikipedia.

Chapter 2: the discovery

She shot upright in bed, her heart hammering. The dream had been so vividly realistic! Emma couldn't shake the feeling that just a second ago she had been racing through a waterfall on the back of a flying alien creature. And then there had been the disorienting feeling of opening two pairs of eyes (her dream eyes and her real eyes), one after the other.

Emma had always had very vivid dreams. It was probably because of her great imagination. In fact, when her friends reported dreams that were less realistic than the waking world, she was always surprised.

The teenage girl rolled out of bed, fell over, and cursed the stupid Imax movie. Maybe if Avatar hadn't been so realistic, she wouldn't keep having those flying dreams that always left her drained and exhausted.

Her mom poked her head into Emma's room. "I'm leaving for work now," she said. "You're in charge of Maggie and Ava. The alarm is set, I fed the dog, but Spark needs water. Try to clean up around here while I'm gone."

"Yeah." sighed Emma automatically. She knew the drill.

Aged forty-something with blue eyes, glasses, and blonde hair that was eternally pulled back in a scrunchie, Emma's mom was a hard-working speech pathologist who had to drive for three hours every morning to get to work. She left Emma and her two sisters, Maggie and Ava, home alone every day. It was okay, but Emma was desperately bored. She was so bored that she was actually looking forward to school starting again in the fall.

Emma's mother ran down the stairs and left, muttering that she was so freakin' late and that she was gonna get fired.

Emma trudged wearily down the stairs and was almost bowled over as Maggie and Ava stampeded past her.

"I call the remote!" shouted Maggie. The two little ones took a running leap and flew onto the couch, almost instantly erupting into a squabble about what channel to watch. Finally they settled on some tween show and sat like zombies. Emma collapsed into a chair and absently ate a bowl of cereal. Then she watched TV with her sisters for a while, but she didn't really like the show. Emma was not a huge fan of T.V. She always said it was mankind's excuse to sit around and do nothing.

Suddenly, a furry butt settled on her lap. Their Yellow Lab stretched himself out, crushing everyone else on the couch.

"Aah, go away O.C.D!" exclaimed Maggie. He looked at her sadly, tried to lick her face, and was pushed to the ground, where he heaved a sigh and went to take a nap in the shoe closet.

The dog's real name was Biscuit (an awfully common and over-used name if you asked him), but everyone called him O.C.D for Outrageously Cute Dog. As far as dogs went he was your typical best-friend-dog: cute, funny, cute, silly, cute, happy, cute, loving, and also very cute. His golden-white fur was often muddy, as he loved rolling around in their huge backyard.

Emma was reminded of what her mom had said. Stopping to pat O.C.D, she walked over to the cage of Spark, their slightly insane macaw. He had been rescued from a drunkard and had a bit of a potty mouth.

As she changed Spark's water and let him out of his cage, he pooped on her hand and screeched, "Squaak! F*ck you! Squaak!", prompting loud giggles from Maggie and Ava.

Emma washed her hand off and then plopped down on the couch again. A second later, Spark flew madly over their heads, pecked a stray crumb off of the cereal bowl, and landed on O.C.D's head. The dog rolled his eyes upward and patiently surveyed the bird. Appearing to be unconcerned, he went back to sleep. Spark settled in, closing his eyes wearily on the dog's head, dozing off while muttering "God damn it".

Emma sat down at the computer and booted it up. She logged in and double-clicked on the internet icon. For a while, she just surfed around, looking for something fun to play. Eventually, she found her way to a chat website that she and her friends often used. They had made their own chat room that only they could access and used it to keep in touch.

Emma logged in. She muttered under her breath, "Okay, username, Emma212, password... oh that's right, it's OCD's date of birth."

She entered the chat room and checked to see if anyone was online. There were two girls she knew. One, whose username was Fuzzyjulia2, was a friend from her lacrosse team. The other, Bananagirl, had been in some classes with Emma last year so they were somewhat friendly.

And then there was another girl who Emma didn't really know. Her username was Silverwolf.

Emma typed in a greeting.

Emma212: Hey peeps, what's up?

Fuzzyjulia2: Not much.

Bananagirl: My brother broke his wrist.

Emma212: again?

Bananagirl: no, the other hand

Fuzzyjulia2: lol

Emma212: how'd it happen

Bananagirl: him being stupid as usual. but he claims he was fighting Chuck Norris

Fuzzyjulia2: lmao

Emma212: I'm really tired...

Fuzzyjulia2: how come

Emma212: keep having these intense dreams... about flying on the back of one of those dragon things from Avatar. makes me exhausted.

Bananagirl: sux for u

Emma212: nah, its the summer, I don't really need energy. besides, idk, I kinda like them.

Silverwolf: recurring dreams, huh

Fuzzyjulia2: well look who came out from under the virtual bed :P

Silverwolf: u kno, u can use recurring dreams to start having lucid dreams

Bananagirl: watz that it sounds wierd

Silverwolf: itz a dream where u know ur dreaming, u can take control of your dream and use it to do whatever you want

Fuzzyjulia2: omg, sounds kewl, maybe I could like have a dream shopping spree, get whatever I want and not have to pay 3

Bananagirl: sounds messed up to me, think I'll leave my dreams the way they're supposed to be.

Silverwolf: suit urself, miss out on the other half of ur life, fine by me

Silverwolf: if ur interested look it up on Wikipedia

Fuzzyjulia2: dude ur such a Wikipedia nerd

Silverwolf: :-P what can I say, i like free things

Emma212: gonna look it up, c u all soon!

Bananagirl: bye

Emma logged out of the chat room and went to Wikipedia. She searched for _lucid dreaming._

"A lucid dream is a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. In a lucid dream, the dreamer can actively participate in and manipulate imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem real and vivid."

"Lucid dreaming, huh." muttered Emma.


	3. Chapter 3: The Encounter

Chapter 3: the encounter

Except for the wind blowing in her face and the quiet flapping of the banshee's wings, the twilight was silent and peaceful. The mountains were already beginning to show their otherworldly green glow that came from the plants and moss that clung to their massive faces. Emma banked gently right, her sharp golden eyes looking out for any sign of danger. But the world seemed to be at peace.

A feeling of calm and contentment settled over her, unlike anything she could remember feeling before. For a moment, she realized that she could not remember how she had gotten to this place, and the thought disturbed the peace that had settled over her.

"Where am I, anyway?" she wondered out loud. Her ikran sensed her unease through the link, and it half-turned it's head towards her and let out a concerned noise.

She patted it on the snout to reassure it, and when she looked at her arm she realized for the first time that it was _glowing_. Iridescent patterns of luminous dots traced up and down her arms, and she took in her breath sharply at the sight. Something was definitely going on here, but she didn't know what yet. Emma looked around at the floating rocks and the strangeness of it all overwhelmed her until it struck her. She nervously looked at her hands, as she remembered from the website she had visited, and saw that they were blue and glowing. _But my hands aren't blue_, she thought. "This is all a dream!" she said excitedly. The banshee sensed her excitement and let out a roar, giving it's wings an extra hard flap. Emma stared around in wonder, absoloutly dumbfounded at the vivid and clear world her mind had created. _But this is just as realistic as real life, _she thought, and it worried her slightly. There was something just a bit scary behind the thought, a hidden truth that she had yet to discover. But at the moment, it was little matter.

Emma clutched tightly at her ikran's harness. The fact that the dream was so realistic made her slightly afraid that she might fall, and goodness knows what would happen if she died in a dream.

Suddenly, a dark regal shadow appeared from out of the darkness. It plunged down towards her at a terrifying speed. Emma felt a rush of raw, primal fear overtake both her and the banshee. Something deep within them knew that shape well, and even it hadn't, she had seen _Avatar _enough to know what it was.

Her banshee, acting almost independently of her, folded it's wings and dove towards the dark jungle below. Emma held on as tightly as she could as they dropped like a stone, feeling in her stomach that weightless sickening feeling that one gets when plummeting down a hill on a roller coaster. The wind of speed chilled and exhilarated her very bones.

She looked back, now, and saw the mighty Toruk diving towards her like a vision of beautiful terror. It was like an eagle in movement, a lion in pride, a butterfly in color, and like nothing else in it's alien ferocity. It opened it's gigantic jaws and blasted out a roar of triumph that tore through the night. The girl on the fleeing, falling banshee below felt fear take control of her body. As the Toruk reached out with it's snatching claws, she felt herself leave her body. A sudden splash of bloody sunlight blinded her. Emma felt the sky through the body of a terrified young ikran, she flapped her wings frantically but to no avail. She heard and saw the ancient struggle of predator and prey, deep within her ikran instincts. And it drew to a violent close as the jaws of the Toruk shut out the daylight, the razor teeth pierced her wings, and the last shadow of fear fell upon her. Then she was the girl again, dropping towards the ground in the dark twilight. The jaws of her fear closed on air, an inch from the tail of her banshee. The dream roiled and shook in a twist of reality, and she snapped out of her body again. Now she was on the ground, scarred and torn at the edge of the forest. But she was still a defiant Thanator, or as the Na'vi call it, dry mouth bringer of fear. She felt the liquid strength in her clawed, panther-like limbs as she turned to snarl at the shape above. She was the undisputed ruler of the forest, and her only challenge lay in bringing down this monarch of the skies. As the shadow drew nearer she tensed as she had so often done before on the hunt. Just before it hit, she jumped and a thousand long-dead thanators seemed to leap with her. She hit, there was a confusing blur of shadow and claw, and the mighty thanator collapsed.

Now she was herself again, if there really was a her, still feeling the dead pride of the once-mighty beast. "You're just a dream!" she shouted over the wind. "If it's my dream then why can't I control you?" The Toruk made a grab for her and missed by a hair, the fear overflowed her very self, and suddenly there was silence.

Dead silence.

Emma felt herself hurriedly, wondering whether she was alive. Her banshee finally pulled out of the dive, the momentum rocketing them forward at a speed that shook Emma's bones. As they zoomed around the side of a small floating rock structure, she thought to look back and saw the Toruk, unable to reach her because they had flown through a space too small for it to fit through. It eyed her slyly and turned away. _Not today, then_, those eyes said.

Emma blew a huge sigh of relief, the released fear causing her to shake uncontrollably on her ikran's back.

Now they were only a little distance off of the ground. Emma looked down to see a huge clearing, and though she knew it was only a dream, she was thoroughly sick of flying. So she flew down to the faintly glowing moss, and hopped off her Ikran.

She again looked around at the lush beauty of her subconscious, the luminescent forest of delicate transcendence. That same feeling of unearthly peace settled over her.

Although she had previously been quite the failure at controlling her dream, Emma decided to risk trying to find something. She cleared her throat, shuffled awkwardly, and announced to the general night, "Um, hey dream, could you please give me somewhere safe to go?" Nothing seemed to hear her and she had turned away and given up when she heard a noise. It was like a faint tingling music, the sound of little bells in the wind. At the same time, the glade lit up, the moss glowing brighter and a strange purple light bathing everything in it's beauty.

Emma slowly turned around, and when she saw the majesty of what had risen, she almost fainted.

A huge tree, if that was the right word, had grown from the bare ground in the clearing. It was like a willow tree risen to huge proportions and beauty. It's tendrils gently stirred in the slight breeze, indescribable colors of pink and purple playing across their surface. It's roots reached out, covered in glowing moss, connecting everything on the planet.

Emma felt the joy of the place envelope her in warmth. She slowly walked forward, as if in a trance, feeling nothing else but the tree and it's call.

Now she was standing in it's soft light. Her hand tentatively reached out to brush a tendril. Then she reached behind her to hold a braid she didn't know she had. As she pulled it into view, she saw that it had writhing tendrils growing out of the end.

With the feeling that she was completing a ritual, Emma reached out and allowed the tendrils of her braid to wrap around a strand of the tree.

For a moment, her world went silent as it took a second for the bond to travel to her brain.

Then, it exploded into life. She felt her brain deluged with an overwhelming surge of... What was it? She couldn't tell yet. It was memories, thoughts, wisdom from somewhere she didn't know. Voices swirled around her, giving her messages she couldn't make sense of. _Please! _she thought in desperation. _I can't understand it!_

Somewhere, somebody said, "_She cannot truly see yet. Shine the light on her." _

And Emma was again overwhelmed, not with fear but with joy. A light of pure love seemed to be traveling down the tree, up through her braid, into her brain and spreading through her whole body. The invisible intangible light swirled around her feet, then wrapped around her whole body, filling her up with an unearthly joy that healed her. She felt her body become more refreshed than it had ever been on Earth, her mind sharper and wide open. Now she was kneeling, her eyes closed, feeling reborn. The bond filled her, more powerful than it had been with her ikran. But what was she bonded to? She tried to feel around but was almost lost in an ocean of joyful consciousness. She was connected with... everything? The whole planet? Her own subconscious?

_"It's all connected," _she realized, and something heard her. Her awareness rushed out, through the roots of the great tree, to other trees, to the whole planet and all of it's creatures. She saw and heard and felt and knew without knowing how she knew. And the whole planet, from the roots of the great tree to everywhere, lit up brighter.

The awareness was almost too much for Emma's mind to hold. She gasped quietly and struggled to maintain her sense of self as the flood of knowledge and raw emotion surged over her. Now her world was pulsing, purple light. She cried out silently as the dream collapsed, _"Who are you?" _And something watched her, and she was watching herself, and the whole thing collapsed inward.

Emma opened her eyes on the cracked white paint of her bedroom ceiling.


	4. Chapter 4: The Idea

Chapter 4: The Idea

Emma swung lazily in the hot summer sun, her bare toes skimming the dry grass. In the distance a insect gave off a loud noise, a piercing buzz that seemed to drill right into her skull. She didn't know what the bug was called, but it was giving her a headache. Her sisters ran through a sprinkler in their bathing suits, giggling and shrieking as they were drenched in cool water. Emma didn't blame them. She was sweating herself, but she didn't want to get wet.

Emma took a sip of the icy water in her hand and pushed back her hair. She was still kinda tired from her intense lucid dream. It was still hard to believe that it had happened. She had actually been aware within the dream world. Not only that, but she had even controlled it! Even though the first part had been a horrible nightmare, probably the worst she'd ever had, the second part had been beautiful and strange. She could still feel the lingering whispers of her bond with the great tree. Whenever Emma closed her eyes she saw it's graceful glowing tendrils, and could almost hear the ancient song of a thousand alien voices.

But behind the giddy rush of success, there was something else, something nagging at the back of her brain. Something she didn't really want to think about. What was it?

Emma considered her dream. It had seemed simple. She had realized she was dreaming and taken control. But was it really? Now that she thought about it, she hadn't really controlled it at all. She had simply shouted a request into the landscape of her mind, and it had responded. Although it was her own mind, it seemed as though the whole process didn't really have much to do with her. The glowing clearing, the great tree itself, and the thoughts and feelings that came from it hadn't been her own creation. On the contrary, they were almost complete surprises. How could she be surprised by her own mind?

The whole thing didn't make sense. But it seemed to Emma that there was, perhaps, a part of her mind that she didn't know. A creator, if you will, who sat there behind the scenes and made up her whole dreamscape. The thought was slightly creepy, unsettling, and entirely new to her. _"Oh well,"_ she thought. _"I'll take a closer look in my dream tonight."_

Emma jumped off of the swing and ran to join her sisters in the sprinkler.


End file.
